hapenny



(No Model.)

D. 0. HAPENNY.

PORTABLE FENCE. No. 368,205. Patented Aug. 16, 1887.

g WITNESSES IfiIENT0R g fi fig ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVIS O. HAPENNY, OF NEWV BRUNSVVIOK, NE\V JERSEY.

PORTABLE FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,205, dated August 16, 1887.

Application filed November 19,1886. Serial No. 219,356. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVIs O. HAPENNY, of New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Portable Fence, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a portable folding fence, and has for its object to produce a fence specially adapted as a toy, capable of being placed in various positions, and sustaining much abuse without material injury.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my portable fence set up, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the wires employed in constructing the sections prior to being placed in position. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the hinge-blanks.

In the construction of my fence I employ a series of panels, consisting of top and bottom horizontal rails, A A, provided with apertures a, equidistant in the same vertical plane. The said rails are held in a parallel position the one above the other by means of vertical U sh aped rods B,entered through the apertures a. These U-shaped rods are preferably made of wire having more or less elasticity, and before insertion are so formed as that the distance intervening between the straight portions thereof will be about half the distance intervening between the apertures adapted to receive them, as shown in Fig. 1.

In building the sections the ends of the U shaped bars are sprung outward and inserted each in an aperture of the top rail, A. They are then carried downward through the corresponding apertures in the bottom rail, A, into which they have to be sprung, as in their downward passage the said ends become yet more extended than when inserted above.

Thus when bars have been inserted in all the apertures in a section the said section will have sufficient rigidity to sustain itself independent of a post, as a lateral tension is obtained in the same plane upon both the top and bottom rails.

I now provide for the end of each rail a me tallic plate, 0, having integral arms 0, preferably two npon each side, equidistant from the ends, and attach said plates to the upper face of said rails, so as to extend beyond the ends thereof, by bending the integral arms 0 of the plate over the edges to a bearing upon the under face of the rails, where they may or may not be secured, as deemed necessary. Each section is now hinged to a post, D, usually by staples d, driven in said posts, passing through. apertures b in the outer extremity of the plates 0, which plates not only constitute one means of hinging the sections to the posts, but also act as an additional brace for said sections.

I usually provide the ends of the posts D with a flat under surface, enabling them to retain a vertical position. This form of fence will be found advantageouswherever a tour porary or portable fence is required, as, from the nature of its construction, any irregular space may be inclosed, and when not in use the fence may be readily folded, the one'section on the other, to occupy but a limited space. Again, the peculiar build of the several sections and the manner in which they are attached to the posts allow of very hard usage with but little wear.

As an additional fastening for the plates 0, I usually provide their inner ends with an aperture to register with one aperture in the rails and pass a member of a U-shaped bar through said aperture.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Theliereiirdescribed portable fence, consist ing of the posts D and a series of panels hinged to the posts, the several panels being composed of the apertured top and bottom horizontal rails, A A, the U shaped rods B, passed through the apertures of the said rails, and the apertured plates 0 on the ends of the horizontal rails, having arms 0, bent over the edge and against the under surface of the said rails, substantially as herein shown and described.

DAX IS G. IIAPENNY.

W itncsses:

STEPHEN H. CANNON, JAMES H. VANOLEEF. 

